NOVEL NEXT Chapter 330
Juhwan Lim, a former professional boxer, is a legendary fighter with officially only 3 losses.
Some people criticize him as a washed-up has-been or a coward who ran away from the ring, but his skills are not to be underestimated.
Experts unanimously agree that if it weren’t for injuries due to aging, Juhwan Lim would still be a legend in the boxing world.
He may be a monster in the ring, but being human meant he had many ‘unofficial’ losses aside from those 3 official ones.
From sparring as a rookie not long after starting boxing, to sparring with foreign professionals fueled by youthful enthusiasm, and brawling with hidden high-skilled players on the streets, Juhwan has truly experienced it all over his 40+ years of life.
Although most of those experiences involved punching and fighting, which he finds a bit embarrassing, his subscribers and students actually loved it. That’s why he ended up sharing his stories in front of people during his free time.
That day was no different. After finishing a lesson for the adult hobby class, which wasn’t aimed at producing pros, students typically used the remaining time freely. Whether it was for personal training or asking Juhwan questions.
One student raised their hand and asked Juhwan, “Who do you think is the strongest fighter in the world?”
“The strongest fighter in the world?”
It was a ridiculously childish question. Yet, topics like who would win in a fight or who’s the strongest among them stimulate a primal curiosity. Other students pretended not to listen but perked up their ears, focused on Juhwan’s answer.
Who would he name?
Current UFC heavyweight champion Frank? Powerlifter Denny, who allegedly lifts 1130 pounds? Russian legend boxer Jason, who once stood shoulder to shoulder with Juhwan?
However, after considering the names thrown out by the students, he shook his head.
“Normally, I would have chosen one of them. They are all among the strongest fighters in the world. But… my thoughts changed recently.”
“Recently?”
“Recently, someone gave me another loss.”
With about 20 unofficial losses under his belt, news of his count increasing for the first time since his 40s sent shockwaves among the students.
Is that even possible? Has the coach finally been caught by age? But still, he had beaten some recently debuted pros!
The chatter among the students quieted down as Jun Hyun’s mouth began to open again.
“It’s a bit tricky to call myself a fighter, but…”
Jun Hyun hesitated, then grinned as he continued,
“I’m confident that I am one of the strongest people in the world. Absolutely sure of it.”
Maybe he’s in America right now.
Jun Hyun lifted his head, as if recalling something.
Recently, a woman came to him saying she was bored and wanted to learn self-defense. She mastered all the techniques and left in less than an hour. In truth, she didn’t even need to learn the self-defense techniques in the first place.
“I hope she never has to use those skills.”
Did she say she was going to America? She mentioned that the safety there isn’t as good as in Korea, so she’d better learn something just in case. Despite not needing it, she was remarkably well-prepared.
Jun Hyun closed his eyes for a moment and prayed for someone who might fall victim to her skills.
*
Led by a grandmother who mistook me for her granddaughter, I arrived at a popular restaurant. While I was eating, out of nowhere, armed robbers burst in?
Is this what class is like in America? This is something you could never imagine happening in Korea. With such a large piece of land, all kinds of crazy things happen here.
I recall a viewer saying that hearing gunshots becomes part of everyday life in America. At first, it’s terrifying and frightening, but over time, you become so desensitized that it hardly crosses your mind anymore.
It’s clear again that even though Korea is small, its safety is relatively good. In Korea, it’s not that big of a deal for a woman to wander around drunk at night, making it quite a safe country.
Just in the place where I live, it usually only leads to getting hit on, if anything.
But now I’m in America. In a city where armed robbers threaten customers in broad daylight.
This isn’t a world where one can survive with a soft-hearted mindset. If luck goes south, like today with armed robbers barging in, I could end up getting hit by a stray bullet and dying right here.
Consequently, it’s quite dangerous for an ordinary person to confront armed robbers. Especially if those robbers are armed with guns, even more so. Unlike humans, machines have no mercy; there’s no way a bullet would stop just before hitting you.
Yet, why is it? For some reason, I didn’t feel threatened at all by the two armed robbers right in front of me.
The two armed robbers didn’t feel threatening at all.
Even while they were yelling and intimidating the citizens, with everyone trembling and unable to lift their heads, I was able to stay completely unfazed.
I had a gut feeling that if I just exerted some strength, I could subdue them before they even had a chance to shoot—close to a certainty.
That was the reason I launched myself into action right after finishing grandmother’s first aid.
Bam—
One of them went down instantly thanks to a weighty dropkick.
He seemed to be unconscious, but I hoped he wouldn’t die. I did feel like something cracked as I kicked him, but I controlled my strength on purpose.
“What, what is this?!”
The other one finally noticed the abnormality, turning his head away from threatening the guests.
But his reaction was way too slow. Had he never encountered a citizen fighting back while committing a robbery? He should have turned around before his buddy hit the ground.
The price for his slow reaction was gruesome. After I delivered the dropkick and landed, I rolled and caught his ankle. Almost immediately, he let go of his gun with a pained scream as I twisted his ankle.
“Gah!”
From the moment he lost the gun, things got pretty simple.
I mounted him, pinning him down and ensuring he couldn’t move, then threw a gun toward Sampson, who was staring at me with a dazed expression.
“Catch this. And please report to the police.”
“Uh, uh?”
“No, never mind. Someone else can report. Do you have something to tie these guys up? Rope, rope.”
Maybe he understood my short English because Sampson, still looking confused, headed somewhere and soon returned with a thick rope.
Ah, America really is something else. They have such big ropes in restaurants, huh?
“Gah! What are you doing?!”
“Stay still, unless you want that other ankle to go the same way.”
I hummed a little tune while tightly binding the robbers.
*
“Thanks to you, we caught some really wicked guys. Thank you!”
“It wasn’t me. That lady did everything.”
“I knew from the victims’ statements, but ha ha, I can’t believe it!”
The armed robbers were taken away by the police who arrived after receiving the report. I might have tied them up too tightly since the robbers’ skin had turned purple. But it couldn’t be helped. I just did what I was taught.
“Everyone’s thanks to you. Thank you!”
“Thank you!”
“Oh, yes.”
Soon, one of the police officers approached me with a happy face, grabbed my hand, and shook it. It seemed like a rough way of saying thank you, so I nodded with a serious expression.
After all the commotion, the armed robber and the police left, and the remaining guests all departed as well.
The only ones left were me, the store owner Sampson, and the Welli Grandmother, whose name I learned from Sampson.
Sampson scratched his head and approached me, bowing his head.
“I’m sorry; I thought you were a scammer. As you can see, the grandmother isn’t in her right mind.”
“No, it’s understandable considering her. She’s probably wary of me because this sort of thing happens often.”
Now that the incident was resolved, I finally had the chance to turn on the translator. Thanks to that, the language barrier crumbled, and I could converse with Sampson.
“But you don’t speak English? You look just like someone from the English-speaking world.”
“I hear that a lot. But I’m actually Korean.”
I briefly explained the location of Korea to Sampson, who didn’t know about it, showing him a map. I carefully detailed how I got here and how I ended up in the situation with the grandmother.
“So you were at the airport doing that again, huh? Hah…”
I was able to learn the backstory about the Welli Grandmother through Sampson.
“Welli Grandmother’s granddaughter Emily is a person who doesn’t exist in this world. She passed away in a plane accident on her way back from a trip.”
“….”
“She already had some dementia, but it worsened after that. She confuses women around Emily’s age for her granddaughter and tries to talk to them. She was probably at the airport waiting for her granddaughter.”
The story of the Welli Grandmother desperately waiting for her granddaughter, who will never return, pierced my heart. I, too, had lost family due to an accident, just like her.
“When she wakes up this time, I’ll make sure she stays in the store. I’ll tell her her granddaughter is coming to the store.”
Sampson grinned as he said that. I’m glad there’s someone like Sampson next to the grandmother.
Just as I have good people around me, the grandmother has Sampson by her side too.
Thinking that way put my heart at ease.